Four days in Marrakesh were enough to once again feel how profoundly the 1-54 African Art Fair alters the city’s rhythm. This year’s programme was intensive enough to constitute a separate visual arts festival. Vernissages, meetings, performances, studio visits. From luxury hotels and riads in the medina and commercial galleries in the Gueliz district, to private gardens and courtyards on the outskirts. Marrakesh became a map of constantly shifting points, inviting visitors to move incessantly between them, filling each day from sunrise to well past sunset. That way, contemporary art shone in the city for the seventh time, delighting an international audience while building bridges between Morocco’s tradition and its modernity.
Out of this intensity of experience and information, I chose to highlight six artists whose practices often stem from the experience of living in a liminal state – the in between. Between their place of birth – Africa – and their place of education – Europe or America. Between family memories of migrant experiences and intergenerational nostalgia. And finally, between the still-vibrant traditional crafts of Africa and the new visual languages that shape global discourse. What connects these artists is their refusal of stereotypical representation. Subtle formal strategies, devoid of heaviness or shame, drawing simultaneously on history and the contemporary everyday life of Africa, position these artists as the fair’s undisputed artistic leaders.
In addition to six artists whose works could be viewed and purchased in the iconic La Mamounia, the main building of the Fair, I also highlighted four full-scale accompanying exhibitions. Two individual and two collective ones, proving that the 1-54 African Art Fair in Marrakesh is ever-evolving as an artistic platform for exchange, responding to the needs of both viewers and exhibitors. Marrakesh is thus becoming a space where art is truly experienced – in temporary, hybrid, and often surprising places. It is in this dispersed creative energy of the in-between that one of the most interesting narratives of the contemporary African scene is emerging today.
Contemporary Lynx was a proud media partner of the 1-54 African Art Fair.
Mustapha Azeroual. Loft Art Gallery
Mustapha Azeroual is a self-taught artist and a scientist by trade. This unusual combination shapes his practice. By closely observing the variability and instability of light, the artist shifts photography from the realm of recording to that of experimentation. He is interested in the process, attempting to capture colour fluctuations as a phenomenon of light appearing and disappearing. In his work, the sun plays a key role as a source of inspiration, while in its reception — much like in kinetic art — movement and the viewer’s presence are essential.
The series presented at the Fair includes both large formats and new, smaller geometric assemblages made using UV printing on lenticular substrates. These latest works, Stabile, engage in a distinct dialogue with the tradition of kinetic sculpture, evoking associations with the art of Alexander Calder. However, in Azeroual’s work, it is not the object that is mobile, but the viewer’s gaze. Although the works are physically immobile, they remain visually unstable: their colour, depth and composition change with the observer’s movement and the angle of view, just as light shifts with the Earth’s position in relation to the sun.
At the Fair, Azeroual’s art stood out as a clear counterpoint to figurative and identity-based strategies. The artist proposes seeing itself as an experience. Surprising, and demanding an engaged mode of viewing, yet exceptional in its point of departure: light, which is so ubiquitous in the African context.
Samy Snoussi. Loft Art Gallery
Born in Toulouse, living and working in Casablanca, Samy Snoussi has developed a practice centred on the relationship between language, gesture and material inscription. The starting point for his work is his personal experience of dyslexia, which the artist transforms into an original system of signs resembling calligraphy, writing or ornamentation – consistently present in his works, regardless of the medium.
The repetitive, organic forms emerging from this process function both as meditation, hand choreography and a record of gesture. Snoussi shifts between doodling and automatic painting, creating a visual language based on intuition, rhythm and the physical experience of writing. For the artist, his practice becomes both an attempt to regain agency over language and a moment of conscious ‘letting go’ – acting outside the norms of communication and beyond the pressure of meaning.
In the context of 1-54, Snoussi’s work resonates as a reflection on the universal impulse to record and understand the world – within and beyond words. It is a practice in which inscription becomes an intimate act, slipping beyond the control of the mind.
Nassim Azarzar. Loft Art Gallery
A French-born artist with Moroccan roots, Nassim Azarzar develops a practice based on abstraction, rooted in his physical and mental experience of being in transit. The shapes and colours in his paintings stem from the ornamentation of Moroccan lorries – a motif that the artist initially documented photographically, before transforming it into an autonomous creative language.
The pastel colour palette dominating his paintings evokes a soft, girlish lightness, contrasting with the metal frames that complement the compositions with a cool character. This tension between transience and permanence becomes one of the key elements of his art. These energies, though seemingly contradictory, complement each other. The interplay becomes particularly evident in the new stainless steel sculpture presented at the permanent headquarters of the Loft Art Gallery in Gueliz. At the same time, it is as delicate as a glimmer of light and as stable as a bridge structure. Each module has a precisely defined function, while remaining dependent on the others, forming an inseparable whole.
The rhythms, structures and colour schemes that define his work today constitute a recognisable, ever-developing style. Abstraction allows Azarzar to avoid literalism and unambiguous references, opening up space for reflection on the experience of displacement, non-belonging and suspension. His works function as an abstract map of a mental journey between his birthplace and the cultural heritage of Morocco.
Elladj Lincy Deloumeaux. Galerie Cécile Fakhoury
Elladja Lincy Deloumeaux’s work centres on figurative painting, in which the body and ornament function as equal elements of composition. Born in Guadeloupe and raised in France, the young artist constructs images suspended in a state of liminality – a life ‘between’ places and cultural orders.
His paintings feature dark-skinned characters that stand out clearly against light backgrounds and ornamental structures. This contrast gives the works an aura of sacredness. Although physically grounded in space, the figures seem mentally absent — deeply absorbed in thought — imbued with an unspoken nostalgia and longing.
The curtain motif – appearing as lace or ornamental structure – functions as a soft metaphor: a semi-permeable barrier that both protects and separates, introducing the feminine energy of delicacy and intimacy. Although very subtle, the concept is precise and shifts attention from identity narratives to the mechanisms of perception and presence.
Elladja Lincy Deloumeaux’s works were presented by Galerie Cécile Fakhoury.
Aïcha Snoussi. La La Lande Gallery
Aïcha Snoussi’s practice engages in the subversion of historical narratives. Her works reveal tensions between the body and structures of power, while avoiding literalism and journalistic tone. The works presented by La La Lande Gallery at La Mamounia bring to mind ancient scrolls, fragments of unknown records or found archives, like objects extracted from treasuries, bearing traces of intense, almost ritualistic use.
Signs resembling writing, maps or diagrams intertwine with organic forms and sexual allusions, creating an autonomous visual language. In this way, Snoussi constructs a private, non-existent, alternative history – an original perspective that functions outside the official record and linear time. It is her intimate mythology – manifesto-like works that enrich the discourse of African art with a strong queer voice.
At the 1-54 Fair, Snoussi’s practice invites reflection on physicality and subjectivity outside the order of representation. Her works invite us to face what’s unclear, untamed, and difficult to name.
Kaïs Dhifi. La La Lande Gallery
The practice of Tunisian artist Kaïs Dhifi centres around aluminium – the primary medium of his work, a durable material that is also susceptible to transformation. The artist subjects the metal to cutting and engraving, treating it as a personal notebook in which he sketches his visions. The resulting compositions are austere in form and visually flattened, reminiscent at times of children’s fantasies – simple, almost naive in form, yet dense with meaning.
Dhifi freely combines contradictory narratives, mixing truth with fiction, religion with mythology, history with cosmological speculation. In his works, references to ancient Greece, Christianity and imagined extraterrestrial belief systems are woven into a single story. It is an attempt at unification, blurring the boundaries between cultures and the sacredness of different orders that coexist in one cosmic whole.
Dhifi’s works resemble elements of futuristic structures, as if fragments of non-existent space stations, combined into enclosed, precisely constructed compositions. Aluminium becomes a medium for both a sketch and a symbolic meta-structure – a space in which the sacred and fantasy function without hierarchy, in a single, shared order of imagination.
Ghizlane Agzenai. La Galerie 38: Dimension 1221: The Station
Ghizlane Agzenai’s exhibition, Dimension 1221: The Station, organised by La Galerie 38, opened on the first day of the Fair as part of Gueliz Night. The title refers to the artist’s birthday and functions as a mirror motif, imposing symmetry and rhythm on the presented works, often arranged in quadruple formations. What distinguishes this exhibition is that, entering straight from the streets of Marrakesh, the viewer was literally drawn into Agzenai’s world by passing through a portal. Composed of colourful ribbons and layered bands of colour, it formed a precisely designed passage that creates the impression of crossing the border between everyday life and the autonomous universe of the artist’s image. It is difficult not to think of Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through the Looking-Glass.
Animistic figures – often birds – emerge from abstract, symmetrical compositions, lending the works sensuality and subtle eroticism. This organic dimension balances the rigour of symmetry and the ordering of chaos through repetition and masterful use of colour and its combinations. In addition to pure fun, Agzenai’s work reveals an open dialogue with Moroccan modernism, including the legacy of the Casablanca Art School, and with zellige ornamentation, filtered through contemporary aesthetics. The whole offers an experience of lightness, pleasure and visual freedom. Affirmative, yet deeply rooted in the Moroccan language of form and imagination.
Siniya28 Gallery at El Fenn: INNER GARDEN – Rita Alaoui
In addition to presentations at the La Mamounia and at its headquarters in the Gueliz district, the Siniya28 Gallery was also involved in a project with the El Fenn Hotel, where it presented an individual, site-specific exhibition by Moroccan painter Rita Alaoui. The corridors and passageways of this luxury hotel became a venue for exhibiting her works, seamlessly integrating into the hotel’s architecture and atmosphere.
The exhibition invited viewers to return to their Inner Garden – a space where nature and human life intertwine into one cosmic whole. Flowers, plants, and the artist’s characteristic empty seat symbolise both absence and an invitation to participate, step in and linger. In the context of a hotel, where rest is paramount, the works take on a therapeutic dimension.
The compositions, built from intertwining vegetal layers and elements connecting the realms of water, air, and earth, go beyond the frame of the paintings. The murals expand the field of vision, drawing the viewer into the artist’s distinctive, organic language. Contrary to the tension of the gallery and the density of the Fair space, here it was possible to truly experience a pause. However, the presence of staff reminded us that we were only guests in this oasis, and that a return to the city’s rhythm was inevitable.
Riad Alena. Wheels – Salaheddine Bouaaichi and Yassine Sellame
The Riad Alena hosted the Wheels exhibition, a project that clearly stood out from the more formalised fair presentations, fitting in with the urban energy and everyday life. The exhibition came about as a result of collaboration between two artists: Salaheddine El Bouaaichi and Yassine Sellame, both deeply rooted in the life of Marrakesh. Wheels explores the wheel as a universal symbol of movement, mobility, and urban rhythm. From literal references (the ubiquitous motorbikes and skateboarding culture in the city) to metaphorical depictions of cyclical returns and transformations (such as the return to analogue photography).
In the context of 1-54, this exhibition expanded the narrative to include a social and situational dimension, reminding us that contemporary African art does not develop exclusively in market spaces, but also in alternative formats – closer to the street, the community and everyday life. Wheels distinctly represents the city by combining visual reflection with the rhythm of life and movement that defines Marrakesh as a vibrant, pulsating metropolis.
Le 18. Organic Knowledge: The Spider, Killer and The Creator
The independent space Le18 in the medina presented the Organic Knowledge project, the result of a residency programme based on work with migrants and displaced communities. The project took on a particularly moving dimension, being dedicated to Cécile Kouome, Kenzie, and Simon Bedimo, artists involved in the programme who died in a fire at a migrant camp in Tiznit in March 2025. As such, the exhibition became both a testimony to their actions and an act of solidarity.
Although the invited artists work in different fields and represent different creative strategies, the common theme was the figure of the spider – a trickster weaver, building a web of connections across borders. This metaphor guided both the exhibition’s narrative and its physical structure. On the ground floor, Khadija El Abyad and Fatima-Zahra Lakrissa experimented with natural materials and traditional wool dyeing methods, restoring a communal and artisanal dimension to the process. The culinary and performance programme prepared by Morad Montazami and Camille Lévy Sarfati expanded the exhibition with a shared experience. The audiovisual works of Amina Belghiti and Faustino Linyekula introduced a sound and narrative dimension. Meanwhile, on the top floor, a dedicated mural was created by the most recognisable figure in Moroccan street art, Grocco a.k.a. Trick54, alongside conceptual photographs by Yemoh777s, founder of the Minority Glob Foundation.
It was a radically expansive proposal, extending the framework of the Fair, demonstrating the importance of art as process alongside the commercial logic of presentation. This network of relationships and a living, organic archive, which enriched and complemented the 1-54 programme, elevated its status to that of an opinion-forming event shaping the current visual scene in Morocco and Africa.
